Shared Assets Lehigh Line

I had some free time Saturday morning so I headed up to the Lehigh Line. I started in South Plainfield and saw the new ‘barrier’ put in diagonal from Sherban’s Diner. I remember when the first one went up by the tracks, I talked to another railfan who was there (and railfan's there pretty regularly) and he said that it was primarily put there to discourage trucks from parking and using the lot for u-turns. I have seen railfans there parked by the building itself. The new setup does seem to keep that in mind as a car/suv can pass through but it doesn’t appear that anything larger would. I can’t say for sure as there was no one else present.

Here are the trains I saw Saturday morning between 8:20 and 10:00, though I missed the head end of NS 20V.

1. NS 212 with 2730, 6594 & 9250
2. CSX Q703 with 676 & 7665
3. CSX Q438 with 844, 975, 518, 7687, 6142 & 1558
4. CR MA80 with NS 5313

Indeed, I saw the new arrangement this week as well, and a regular cargo van is about the largest vehicle that can get through there. The owner of that business (when it was in business) was railfan-friendly, and waved every time he came & went. It's sad to see the business gone now....
The new barricade is a bit intimadating, though; I pulled in the other morning, shot 22V, and left right afterwards. I know a few of the 'regulars' that hang there, and probably won't venture back in without seeing one of the guys & getting a confirmation that it's OK to park. I'm not from the immediate area, so we'll have to see how things shake out.
Like Wolf says, ya know.......

Whats with all the horn blowing at Potter and Tingley lately? I thought these were quiet zones so the non railfans in their Mcmansions who knew they were moving into a ROW area could snooze???, YSYL!!!!

davebdawg wrote:Whats with all the horn blowing at Potter and Tingley lately? I thought these were quiet zones so the non railfans in their Mcmansions who knew they were moving into a ROW area could snooze???, YSYL!!!!

Well it was mentioned on the last page that there was a crossing getting work done on it. Even if a Xing has whistle restrictions, crews are required to blow for workers in the area. And while work is going on the horn ban might be temporarily suspended or something (i haven't seen the CR paperwork to know for sure, just guessing)

Thought the work was done last Friday, and the crossing is now open to cars too, And I just heard another horn blast about a half hour ago, I don't mind one bit brings back memories for sure, HMMMM, Maybe a super railfan blotted out the R on the WR sign!!!
Saved me a trip for that!!!

The way the quite zone has been explained to me is that the RR owns and maintains the crossing protection. The town still owns the road and the barrier island and all the stuff not on RR property. There is a non-conforming siginal at the crossings that let the train crew know when all four (4) quadrents gates are down, when they are the light lights up and the engineer does not need to blow the horn. There are sensors in the exit section that operates the exit gates, so as not to trap a car in the crossing. The township is responsible for these. Last I heard these are "on order". So until they get installed it is possible to be hearing alot of trains again.

And since I am a proud resident of Edison and have been here a while I think it would be safe to say that will take a looooong time to have that repaired, as since we have had flooding issues here on our street since we 2003 and it never has been taken care of properly. Long live the horns.
Thanks for letting me know that Wolfie!!

Found this video on youtube the other day, anyone have any more from around the area to share?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-EdHP7DuKw

KEWL, But he did'nt stop at Sherbans for a bite to eat!!!

Heads up, 64J (trash empties) headed for Jersey with Penn Central heritage 1073 leading. Should be traversing the LEHL sometime this evening or later tonight.

Unfortunately, I won't make it out to see it, but good luck to those who can.

I was in Bound Brook on Sunday. Saw CSX mixed freights to Oak Island [17 cars] and to Selkirk [13 cars]. Shortest mixed freights I've seen since early Conrail. Our economy is in terrible shape.

When should it return going west?

Should just about be rolling through Harrisburg now. That means it definitely won't be coming through in daylight...

waldwickrailfan wrote:When should it return going west?

Purely a guess, but I would say Wednesday. I hope so, since that's the day I'm supposed to be off. It would be nice to finally catch a heritage unit for my last railfanning session before I move away...

Reported through Bethlehem, PA ten minutes ago. Good luck to those going out tonight.

ns3010 wrote:Reported through Bethlehem, PA ten minutes ago. Good luck to those going out tonight.

Came east through Middlesex, NJ around 4:30 am Tuesday morning.

ccutler wrote:I was in Bound Brook on Sunday. Saw CSX mixed freights to Oak Island [17 cars] and to Selkirk [13 cars]. Shortest mixed freights I've seen since early Conrail. Our economy is in terrible shape.

Sundays are the worst days to judge freight counts. The traffic from Philly/South to Oak Island has been low for some time. The other train you saw was Q418 that is just Paviona to Selkirk freight which has been low, but on Sundays does not pick up at Woodburne. Same with Q300 not making a Manville Pick-up. Weekday counts are usually higher.